Sweet 16
by GingerPhoenixRising89
Summary: A one shot that looks into another one of Tali's milestone birthdays and how her parents handle it.


**Ziva:**

Three years had flown by quite quickly in Ziva's opinion. To Ziva it seemed like it had been just yesterday that they had celebrated Tali's thirteenth birthday and her bat mitzvah. Now Tali was hours away from turning Sweet Sixteen. Tony and Tali were in the kitchen of the family's fully furnished two bedroom Parisian apartment that had a view of the Eiffel Tower. The duo was making dinner for all three of them when Ziva joined them. Ziva liked to watch Tony and Tali when they were doing things together. The father-daughter bond was quite prevalent to Ziva. Every time she watched Tony and Tali together, it was quite obvious that Gibbs had a profound impact on Tony. But to be honest, Gibbs had a profound impact on anyone who ever worked on his team at NCIS. In a brief moment as she continued to watch her daughter and significant other together; a smile came to Ziva's face.

"Thank you." Ziva said so quietly that she was the only one who heard what she had said.

The next thing that Ziva knew, Tony was standing quite close to her and was reaching out for her hand.

"I thank her every day too." Tony whispered in Ziva's ear as he led her into the kitchen.

"Are you two talking about Aunt Jenny again?"

It was quite funny when it came to how well Tali knew her parents' story.

"It's possible…" Ziva replied.

Following that exchange, Ziva joined in the dinner preparation. By this time tomorrow night, the little family of three would be celebrating Tali's Sweet Sixteen at one of Tali's favorite restaurants; Pastamore, with Abby who was coming down from England to spend the day with the birthday girl. There had been an open invite that had been extended to Gibbs and the team to come over from the States for Tali's birthday, but the team had gotten a case that was very last minute. Gibbs was going to check in on Phineas.

"Are you excited to see Abby when she gets here?" Tony asked over dinner a while later.

"What do you think the answer to that is, Tony?"

Tali found it entertaining when her parents took their little jabs at each other, it was a sign of their mutual love and respect for each other.

"Of course I am excited to see Aunt Abby, Aba. The last time I talked to Aunt Abby, she said that she got another tattoo."

That was when Tony and Ziva shared a look. They both knew all too well the infinity their friend and former colleague had for tattoos.

"Aunt Abby also said that she is planning on going back to the States for a visit soon. She said that she was planning on visiting Gibbs and the team in Washington before visiting her brothers." Tali continued.

It was then that Ziva was starting to see where her daughter was going with this line of conversation. Ziva looked over to Tony out of the corner of her eye to see if he had connected the dots yet.

"I am surprised that Abby isn't taking a trip down to New Orleans. She always seems to be chummy with Pride." Tony stated.

"You know as well as I do that Abby will make time to see Pride."

Tali smiled and with that smile Ziva knew she was right.

"Aunt Abby is going down to New Orleans before she returns to England.

The conversation continued on for the remainder of dinner. Once dinner was over, Tali requested that her parents go relax in the living room while she cleaned up from dinner.

**Tali:**

After dinner was cleaned up and the leftovers were put away, Tali said goodnight to her parents and retired to her bedroom. She had some homework that she had started during her study hall period at school to finish up and she wanted to talk to Bryce before she turned for the night. As Tali worked on her homework, she reflected on how relaxed her parents were when Bryce had asked to start dating Tali. It was then as Tali attempted to work on the remainder of her homework, she realized that the homework that she didn't need to have the homework done for the following school day. So she packed things up and changed into her pajamas before she grabbed her phone from the nightstand beside her bed. Tali wasn't sure at first on how she wanted to contact Bryce. As she mulled things over, Bryce had beaten her to the punch so to speak when he had face-timed Tali.

"Bonjour, mon amour." Bryce said when Tali had answered.

"Bonjour, mon cherie." Tali replied.

The young lovebirds switched to talking to each other in English after they had greeted each other in French. In the early days of their relationship, Bryce was completely entranced by Tali. On their first date which was at a Starbucks, Tali and Bryce got to know each other quite well.

"How was school for you today after third period?"

"It was fine, Professeur Chobat lectured the whole time. Half of the class fell asleep." Tali replied.

Bryce laughed, he knew first hand how monotone Professeur Chobat was.

"Are you looking forward to your birthday tomorrow?" Bryce asked.

"Yeah I am actually quite excited for tomorrow."

"Any plans for tomorrow? Are you going to school?"

"My Aunt Abby is coming down from the UK for the day before she flies over to the States to visit everyone over there before she returns to the UK. And no I am not going to school tomorrow."

Tali could see the look of disappointment come to Bryce's face as she answered his question.

"What's wrong?" Tali questioned even though she had a pretty good idea of what was upsetting Bryce.

Before he answered Tali, Bryce reverted back to his native tongue.

"J'espérais que nous pourrions fêter ton anniversaire ensemble demain." Bryce said.

"Bryce, we will see each other tomorrow for my birthday. I promise we will make time for a celebration."

After that, Tali and Bryce talked some more before Bryce had to go so that he could get ready for bed.

"Bien: permettez-moi d'être le premier à dire ceci, joyeux anniversaire." Bryce said before they ended the FaceTime call.

"Merci, mon amour."

**Tony:**

Tony and Ziva were in bed, one had a book in hand while the other was watching tv. Their bedroom door was slightly open so they saw what was going in their home. Tony's attention drifted away from the tv during a commercial break at one point and he saw Tali make her way into the kitchen.

"It looks like Tali is still up." Tony commented.

"I wouldn't be surprised with her birthday coming up as fast as it is. That and I heard her talking with Bryce before."

Then there was a knock on the bedroom door. Tony and Ziva knew full well who was knocking on their bedroom door.

"Come on in, Tali." Ziva called out.

"What can we do for you?"

"I just came in to say goodnight. Bryce says hello and I was just wondering when Aunt Abby is getting here?"

"I believe Abby said that she'd get here around 2:30-3pm tomorrow. Why?" Tony questioned.

"Bryce was upset that I am not going to school tomorrow. And he really wants to see me on my birthday to celebrate with me."

In that moment due to all the time they spent together over the years, Ziva knew full well where Tony's mind went to when their daughter had said that her boyfriend wanted to see her tomorrow. But for the time being while Tali was in the room, Ziva put what she knew Tony was thinking on the bad burner for now. She would address it when it was just the two of them in the room.

"That is so sweet, it's clear that Bryce is in love with you." Ziva said.

After that, Tali said that she would see if she could meet up with Bryce for lunch the next day and once she had a definite confirmation from Bryce, she'd let her parents know what was going on. Tony and Ziva nodded as their daughter left their bedroom. Tali closed the door behind her and Ziva jumped onto her next task.

"Could you have been anymore obvious with what you were thinking before?" Ziva questioned.

"What are you talking about, Ziva?"

"You know full well what I am talking about."

Tony still had that dazed and confused on his face, but then again that tended to be a normal state for him after Tali entered her teenage years.

"The moment Tali said that Bryce wants to see her to celebrate her birthday with her, you instantly went to them doing something more than just hanging out together."

"No I didn't."

"Yes you did, I have always been able to read you. Just like Jenny was able to always read Gibbs."

"Dr. Ryan was able to do that too with Gibbs and from what I hear, Jack can too."

"So in another words, I was right." Ziva said.

There was a pause in the conversation.

"Yes you were right. I am worried, I'm a dad; it's in the job description. Besides Tali is your doppelgänger."

"Not all of Tali is from me, the eyes are all you."

Ziva set her book down on the nightstand beside her and kissed Tony goodnight before she hunkered down. Shortly there after, Tony followed suit.


End file.
